Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been one of the most successful cricketers to have led the Indian Cricket Team to great highs. The 2011 World Cup, the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy, the Indian cricket team’s trophy room got stacked under his leadership.
He is regarded as the best wicket-keeper the team ever had and he stayed true to his duties as a middle-order batsman who soon came to be known as the ‘Finisher’ for his squad.
In the Indian Premier League, Dhoni remained loyal to Chennai Super Kings and Rising Pune Supergiant when the former franchise was suspended for a couple of years. He’d won three IPL titles and two Champions League titles with the ‘Yellow Army’.
‘Decision Review System’ quickly became ‘Dhoni Review System’ because of how accurate his understanding of the situation was that often made him go against the umpires’ decision and take the review which would be in his favour nine out of 10 times.
The man remained cool as a cucumber under tense situations, the commentators would try to estimate what he’d be thinking when games were on the line, but Dhoni’s ‘poker face’ refused to give away information.
Sneaking quick singles, supernatural running between the wickets, crafty means to dismiss opposing batsmen off the pitch and some hilarious commentary wearing the keeper’s gloves that got picked by the stump mics.
That was what Dhoni’s legacy was supposed to be. It was supposed to be a big fat happy ending with the character in the lead role riding into the sunset after a mesmerising career, only to be immortalised by the tales of his heroics.
Unfortunately, Dhoni, much like some other legendary Men in Blue, continued to come back for more and it is safe to say that the legacy is getting tainted day after day.
When the former Indian skipper played a thundering 113-run innings off 78 balls in the warm-up match against Bangladesh ahead of the 2019 World Cup, fans thought the man had a lot left in his tank.
However, that would be the biggest highlight of the twilight of his career and it came off a friendly match.
Since then, Dhoni has been criticised for lack of intent by international players and former teammates alike. He has been called out for not being able to finish the match against New Zealand in the World Cup semi finals. He has been lambasted for creaming his “two-month sabbatical” from the team which lasted for over a year (this is before the coronavirus pandemic hit us). And now he is once against being hammered for the extremely underwhelming performance by CSK during the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League.
Source: MensXP
